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CHINA showed exactly why it was at the top of the food chain in the badminton scene as their shuttlers captured all but one title at the close of the $120,000 Bingo Bonanza Philippine Open Badminton Championships yesterday at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.

The biggest and brightest star out of the Chinese champions was undoubtedly Wang Xin as she upset the top seed and world no. 1 Zhou Mi of Hong Kong in three sets, 21-10, 12-21, 23-21, to claim the crown in the women’s single division.

The Chinese gold-rush also took home titles in the mixed doubles, men’s singles and women’s doubles events. The men’s doubles crown was spared as it was won by Indonesia .

Still, the 24-year old Wang hogged the spotlight because of her remarkable journey towards the pinnacle of badminton’s peak yesterday.
She had to go through the backdoor, the qualifier, to get into the mix of the 64-player draw. A member of China ’s Team B, Wang then upended No. 7 Charmaine Reid of Canada in the Last 16 and bested compatriot Wang Shixian in the semis to get a crack at the championship.

Getting China ’s party started was the mixed doubles pair of Zhang Nan and Lu Lu as they toppled their compatriots, Zhang Jinkang and Chen Zhiben, 22-20, 21-19, to win the mixed doubles championship and the $7,320 that came with it.

Three-time Olympic gold medalist Gao Ling and Wei Yili delivered the third title for China by demolishing the top seeded pair of Shendy Irawati and Meiliana Jauhari of Indonesia, 21-11, 21-11, in the women’s doubles finals also worth $7,320.

Chen Long then capped off their impressive showing in the five-day tournament by besting fellow Chinese Hu Yun, 21-13, 21-16, to claim the men’s singles championship along with $9,600. His trek to the title was also a tedious one as he had to beat three of the world’s top players in Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia , Lin Dan, also of China , and Indonesia ’s Taufik Hidayat. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio